WASHOUGAL, Wash. — Every morning, John Furniss steps into his woodworking shop behind his Washougal home. He gathers chunks of maple, poplar and red-hued padauk and imagines what he could create with them. It might be a tray, a bowl or some other wooden work of art that only he can visualize.
"Sight and vision are two very different things," said Furniss. "It's as if I was born when I became blind."
When he was 16, Furniss struggled with severe depression and anxiety. He lost his will to live and tried to end his life. He survived but lost his sight.
"It's something that I talk about because I know it helps people, but it's also something that I try not to have define me," said Furniss, now 42. "I'm John. I'm not a suicide attempt. I'm all the events that came together to make me who I am today."
Who Furniss is: "The Blind Woodsman." The moniker graces the sign on his shop door and his social media accounts.
On the day of our visit, Furniss decided to make a bowl from several pieces of wood laminated together.
"People ask why I wear safety glasses," chuckled Furniss, preparing to work. "I tell them, 'Yeah I'm blind, but my face is still made of face!'"
Two years after losing his sight, Furniss learned woodworking through a vocational rehabilitation program in Utah.
"At first I was like, OK, that sounds a little dangerous," he said. "But I've always had a passion for craftsmanship."
Several years ago, Furniss moved to Vancouver to attend The School of Piano Technology for the Blind. One day, a local artist dropped by the repair school to paint a piano for a fundraiser. Her name was Anni. The couple has been married 12 years now.
"I wouldn't be 'The Blind Woodsman' without Anni," Furniss said.
It's true. As Furniss's interest in piano repair waned — "It was too repetitive," Furniss recalled — Anni bought him a turning lathe for his birthday.
"She encouraged me to do what I do best," Furniss said. "I'm an artist. I'm creative. I love woodworking because it's whatever I want it to be."
Anni said she couldn't be prouder of Furniss or more grateful for the team they have become.
"People will sometimes say it's sad that John can't see his own work," Anni said. "But in reality, he likes to say we see what he sees. I love that."
Over the last year, John and Anni wrote a book about his life and their relationship. It's titled "The Blind Woodsman: One Man's Journey to Find His Purpose on the Other Side of Darkness." The book is available March 19.
"We opened it, and I was like, 'It's real!'" Anni said. "All of last year, it was like blood, sweat and tears."
John and Anni hope their story will help dispel the stigma around mental health and maybe even save a life.
He offers this advice to anyone who is struggling: "Now becomes then, and tomorrow will be today. If you can really hold that true in your heart and know that it's true, then it can carry you through some pretty tough times."
As for how John and Anni's story ends in real life, they're still drafting it.
"We joke that when our time is done, we'll be walking on the beach and we'll both get struck by lightning and then an eagle will fly by and whisper our names," said Furniss as the couple erupts in laughter.
For right now, there's too much living to do and too much beauty to visualize.
"I try to choose happiness whenever I can," Furniss said.
This story is part of our series, Pacific Storyland. From the ordinary to the extraordinary, we'll bring you the most heartwarming and inspiring stories from where you live. Know someone you'd like to see featured? Let us know! Email us at pacificstoryland@kgw.com or text your story ideas to 503-226-5088.
VIDEO PLAYLIST: Watch more stories from KGW series "Pacific Storyland"